The Strength of a Dragon
by Get Keen
Summary: Due to a reason that was unclear to all present, Hiccup is inexplicably turned into a Night Fury. Tag along on his adventures on and around Berk as he deals with problems through means he could have never imagined he would use. Why have the gods willed this to happen? What lesson is he supposed to learn? When will he turn back? He will eventually though...right?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

The Viking village of Berk did not know this, but it was being watched.

It was always being watched, in fact, but its inhabitants merely carried on about their simple lives; dreadfully ignorant of the Being that was so interested in their existence. The Being held a valid interest in the little mortals, however, as He was the one who gave these Vikings, as well as every other creature on this still young Earth, Life.

The Creator watched, invested and enthralled, from a place that was neither here nor there as His children went about their daily grind, and He laughed when He saw a small, one-legged human muttering to himself. The boy walked beside another one of the Being's creations, of which He was enormously proud, with one hand on the creature's pitch black flanks. The dragon, for that is what he was, prodded his nose into the crook of the human's arm worriedly; he could tell when his human brother was distressed. Now though, it wasn't so much distress as frustration, as the Creator marked with amusement.

Hearing His child's grumblings again, He laughed merrily and, simultaneously, all the young in the world burbled and giggled in pure, unadulterated joy. Including a hatchling of a certain, feline-eyed dragon species.

The Creator's eyes lit up mischievously as an idea came to him, courtesy of the objective, aptly named (thanks to His human children) 'Night Fury' hatchling. Somewhere, the rumbling of distant thunder echoed the timbre of His more subdued chuckle, signifying the rain that would prevent a decade long drought, as He put His plan into action.

His child thought life to be uninteresting now that the dragon queen had been defeated, did he? Well, He would answer his wishes in the best way He knew. But first, to mould for him a form that was more reflective of the boy's character…

Toothless' head whipped up from where he'd been sleeping on the floor of his old cove. He cocked both ears and carefully swivelled them around, the symphony of the forest surrounding him bursting to life and raising him to his feet. There were no sounds that were out of the ordinary, however, and for a moment the dragon was lost as to why he had awoken so suddenly.

Then he felt it again. He felt what seemed to be a physical _tug_ on his heart, telling him to find his human. He didn't know why, but suddenly, he was desperate to get to Hiccup for fear of the worst. He didn't know what 'the worst' could be in the relatively peaceful state Berk now found itself in, but why _else_ would he feel such an immediate desire to reach the only creature he had ever dared to consider family, arise from nowhere _._

Toothless leapt into the air with his old ease and grace, briefly glancing back at the contraption Hiccup had made for his tail that could be controlled by the Night Fury himself (he had clearly had a lot of time on his hands) before soaring off to where the boy and his friends had gone for the day. Now, Toothless had never really believed the saying: 'everything happens for a reason'. In fact, he had never even heard it spoken. But little did he know how central this simple, human phrase was soon going to be, especially considering Hiccup's impeccable timing with this particular invention, to both his and his human brother's lives.

Toothless reached the old 'kill ring' on the outskirts of the village and landed hastily, his head bobbing up and down as he tried to catch a glimpse of his human among the figures of various heights and thicknesses. The ring had once been where the training of the human young took place, to prepare them for a (possibly not too lengthy) adulthood of dragon slaying. Now though, it had an entirely different purpose and served instead to train the dragon hatchlings that, as of late, had been running rampant throughout Berk. Yes, the Vikings' attitude towards their draconic companions had certainly undergone a drastic change.

The ring was full to the brim now with both adult dragons and their hatchlings, but Toothless only had eyes for the single five humans he had just spotted that, at this point in their young lives, fell under neither of the two categories. He hurriedly attempted to make his way to the opposite end of the ring, where Hiccup and his friends were cooing over the baby dragons, but was sent sprawling across the dusty ground when a Nadder mother was shoved backwards into him. Her son had clearly misjudged the force of his fire and, while he had hit one of the targets that had been set up for the hatchlings by their human onlookers, the force of his flames had sent him careening backwards into his unsuspecting mother, who was now fluttering worriedly around a dazed Night Fury. The little hatchling himself walked sheepishly up to Toothless' face and nuzzled at a leathery cheek apologetically. The contact snapped the black dragon out of his shock and, with a quick, forgiving lick to the baby Nadder's forehead, he set off in a panic once again in Hiccup's direction. Seeing that Hiccup was perfectly fine, Toothless had thought the tug in his chest would have dissipated; but it was the opposite that had occurred. It was fiercer than ever and, for a brief moment, the dragon actually believed that he was having a "panic attack". At least, that's what Fishlegs had announced his bouts of fear-induced shortness of breath to have been, before he had developed a friendship with Meatlug. And now, the Gronckle had grown rather fond of the large boy herself, being able to calm him down with a nuzzle before anything escalated too quickly.

Toothless quickly realise that his own fears were not unfounded when a sudden parting in the crowd gave him another glimpse at the group of human teenagers. What he saw chilled him to his fiery core.

Hiccup, who had only moments before been talking and laughing with his human friends, was now writhing on the floor in what seemed to be intense pain. Toothless let out a worried roar that immediately earned him a clear path to the boy as all the other dragons scrambled to get out of his way. The other humans also looked up in shock when the Night Fury came careening towards them, urgently sniffing the one-legged Viking for any sign of what it was that ailed him.

The group of humans that had surrounded Hiccup, aghast at his unexpected collapse, suddenly gasped collectively and stumbled backwards. Toothless himself, reared up in alarm and crashed into the teenagers at the horrifying scene that was unfolding before him. Hiccup's form was bending and twisting in unnatural ways, clearly through no control of his own. Sickening cracks and grinding of bones could be heard coming from the young man and, instinctively, the draconic mothers present in the vicinity shielded their young with a protective, leathery wing. The Viking's head snapped backwards, and the onlookers were surprised, but relieved, to see that he did not seem to be in pain. In fact, the boy appeared to be unconscious. His shocked grunts had dissolved into laboured breathing, that hitched with each new convulsion, but the boy himself seemed to be in a catatonic state. It was far from peaceful, but the humans present registered in the backs of their horrified minds that it was probably stopping him from experiencing what surely would have been a soul-crushing pain like none other.

Hiccup's frame had been changing while these subconscious thoughts tried to make themselves known, and what now clearly seemed to be the repositioning of his bones was accompanied by their growth and thickening. Shoulder blades also protruded outwards, so much so that the blood began to drain from Snotlout's face for fear that he would see his cousin's spill on the dusty floor if his growing bones were to grow any further. He needn't have worried though, for it seemed that the skin was growing with what they held together. In fact, the visible skin on Hiccup's body was changing dramatically as his ghastly transformation continued. It seemed to be growing thicker and grooves were forming in his exposed dermis.

No one felt capable of doing anything as Hiccup, unaware of the changes coming over his body, morphed into something unrecognisable before their eyes. Well, not quite unrecognisable.

It was clear to all present that their fearless friend was taking on the distinctive shape of nothing other than a species that they had all come to know and love in a short space of time.

Hiccup was turning into a dragon.

The transformation, merciless in its inevitability, continued onwards as the grooves in Hiccup's skin pushed small, hardening plates outwards into what were distinctly scales. The newly formed scales blackened until they became so dark they almost seemed to reflect no light, and settled back on his skin, conforming to Hiccup's changed and now rapidly growing shape. The skin, or rather, _scales,_ on the boy's body now covered him from head to toe, and his mop of unruly auburn hair seemed to have receded into his leathery scalp. His hardy, Viking clothing had all but ripped apart due to his almost fully formed wings as they ripped through the back of his layers, but his rapidly increasing size now forced them to give up their losing battle.

Hiccup's body burst from his clothes, sending yak hair and wool flying in all directions, as his head simultaneously flattened and widened, his nose pushing forward slightly to form a distinct muzzle.

Then, just as abruptly as they had begun, the convulsions stopped and the onlookers were left staring at what was unmistakeably a young Night Fury, lying unconscious, but looking all but dead, on the sandy ground of the once aptly named Kill Ring.

Astrid could not, nor did she want to, believe her eyes. Hiccup, _her_ Hiccup had been turned into a dragon. Somehow. She wanted to scream. She wanted to hurl her axe at innocent, unsuspecting trees for hours on end. She wanted to _kill something,_ more specifically whatever unseen…thing it was that had just made this happen, out of the blue. With absolutely no warning whatsoever.

Although, for all her inner, seething anger, the blonde girl was rooted to the spot with the same disbelieving expression on her face that all the witnesses to this inconceivable event were sharing, including the dragons.

But then, Hiccup stirred, and she leapt into action. She started to run over to her fallen betrothed's side (the proposal that she had basically wrenched out of Hiccup due to how much reassurance he had needed that she _did_ in fact love him and wasn't simply taking pity on him. Tch – _as if_ Astrid would marry for those reasons) only to be stopped by a warning wing to her abdomen. She was about to protest Toothless' unnecessary protection of Hiccup, but then she saw that, during the change, the already existing Night Fury had moved to position himself in between Hiccup and the rest of the humans.

She gasped a little when she realised that Toothless was not protecting Hiccup, but _her_ instead. Surely that was unnecessary, Hiccup would surely be…well, Hiccup on the inside.

Wouldn't he?

She laid a hand on the leathery wing to acknowledge that she understood what Toothless was doing and stepped back, letting the dragon assume a defensive crouch in front of the human teens. Hiccup opened his eyes groggily, blinking wearily as he wobbled into a standing position on his four limbs. The moment he locked eyes with Toothless though, they became clear and sharp, and he shifted his weight as if to approach.

Well, they were about to find out.

I tried to shake the fuzziness out of my head, but it seemed heavier than usual and the momentum it carried left me feeling dizzy, and worse off than before. I blinked my eyes a few times to encourage the world to stop spinning so fast, and when it did, I took in my surroundings.

I wasn't exactly sure what had happened, but everything was how I remembered it. Hatchling training, Toothless… wait, Toothless?

I thought he'd been sleeping in our cove, the lazy, overgrown lizard. My eyes focused a bit more and I studied my dragon. Why did he look so defensive? He was crouched low to the ground, his wings flared, and pupils somewhat slit. I looked around me but as far as I could see there were only mothers and babies in the direction he was looking so warily at.

I turned back to him, successfully confused, and raised a hand to comfort him and his weird paranoia. Then I fell flat on my face.

 _Well that was unexpected,_ I thought as I blinked at the ground my face had decided to greet so politely. I glared at my hand, feeling betrayed by the simple movement that threw me off balance so drastically, and my throat went dry. I swallowed nervously as it registered that I was not looking at a pink, fleshy human hand, but rather at Toothless', who was standing _directly opposite me,_ forepaw. I tried to stand up again, and found myself doing it in a very unconventional way: by getting onto my haunches first and then trying to stand on my hands and feet, all four of my limbs. Well _that_ made no sense. Humans are bipedal. And I was…

I felt my blood run cold, although it felt like it didn't take as much for it to do so, and tried to stand up on my legs, only to fall forward again. My centre of gravity was way off, and I was forced to walk on all fours, with the weird forepaws that looked exactly like Toothless' leading the way to the one of the shield racks we hadn't taken down yet.

Taking a deep breath, I looked back at Toothless, who had relaxed slightly, but was still in his defensive stance, and then turned to the shields to confirm my suspicions. Staring back at me, were two massive eyes with big, curious pupils. Toothless' eyes, that were set in a big, black, feline-esque head. Toothless' head. Reality hit me full force and suddenly I was no longer moving as if in a dream, the round pupils in the reflection snapped into tiny slits as the alarm rose inside me like a tidal wave. I stumbled backwards, only to crash into a thick, tar-black, barrel chest. Before I could hyperventilate, Toothless lowered his head down to me and nuzzled my forehead with his chin. I froze at the action, but then quickly relaxed as he nuzzled at the hollow in between my neck and ears, my draconic anatomy's reaction to that particular area shut off the panicked adrenaline coursing through my veins almost immediately. I felt my body go limp against my will, but my mind was calmed before it had a chance to freak out. He always knew what to do.

I gently pushed Toothless' snout away from me with a hand – sorry, _paw_ – and sat up again, deep in thought.

 _Okay, so I'm a dragon. A Night Fury, to be precise. There are worse things that could have happened to me. And besides, it's not like this is going to last long. Right?_

With that last thought, I looked up into Toothless' concerned face and he gave my nose a prompt lick, as if he had had those exact same thoughts as well. Well, maybe now I'd get a chance to figure out if he had. I got up to my feet again, Toothless hovering worriedly behind me, _extremely self-conscious_ of the fact that I was walking on all fours, and took a couple of steps forward.

 _Huh. Everything comes so naturally. I don't have to focus on trying to learn how to walk again at least._

I chuckled and then shrank back at the decidedly inhuman huffing sound, before shaking my head and puffing my chest out. If I was going to be a human in a dragon's body, I would be the best damn human in a dragon's body I could be. And that meant that I couldn't be thrown off by the sounds I now made.

Just when I thought that I was going to be able to control my new body though, my tail thumped against the shield rack, sending the metal circles to the floor with a great crash. I couldn't help myself, I was spooked, so I…screeched. It was such an absurd sound coming out of a fearsome dragon's mouth that Toothless huffed that weird Night Fury laughter. I was about to give him a piece of my mind, until I heard other, _human_ voices join in the mirth.

Suddenly remembering the presence I mentally kicked myself for forgetting, I felt my gaze slowly land on my friends. My friends who I have no doubt _watched me turn into a dragon with their own eyes._

"Well," Ruffnut said through unattractive snorts, "at least we know that he's still Hiccup." This comment brought about an increase in the raucous laughter the teens were letting loose with, relieved that Hiccup was still alive and himself. Astrid wiped away tears from her eyes happily and looked over in her boyfriend's direction again. She sobered up quickly when she saw him looking at the group with an unreadable expression in his big, pine green eyes and punched the people closest to her in their arms to get their attention as well. She felt her back stiffen when Hiccup lowered himself to the ground and began stalking towards the group, who began collectively sweating anxiously at the sight. She looked over at Toothless angrily. Why wasn't he providing much needed protection now? But then she saw him roll his eyes, prompting her to look at Hiccup again. His pupils were round with mischief and had that glint that she knew all too well in them, not slit like a mindless snake.

 _So you thought you could fool me, Hiccup? Not a chance, weirdo._

She hid her smirk and lifted her chin as if to challenge Hiccup to try anything, before pouncing towards him just as he leapt for their small huddle. They collided mid-air and Hiccup, although surprised, let his newfound instincts take over and did and impressive barrel roll before landing on his hind legs. Astrid found herself clinging to his thick, black neck and shrieked when he suddenly tossed her into the air again, only to roll over onto the ground and catch her on his lighter underbelly, both forepaws curled over her small frame.

She looked at him, smiling breathlessly, before an urgent thought crossed her mind. He frowned slightly as her expression changed to one of solemnity so quickly.

"Hiccup, can – can you understand me?" She struggled to get the words out for fear of the wrong answer, but to her relief he nodded his great big head without hesitation. She breathed a deep sigh before proceeding to punch him with all her strength on one of his paws, only prompting him to raise what would have been an eyebrow.

" _That_ , is for scaring the living daylights out of me," Hiccup rolled his eyes as if to say it's not like he could have helped it, but had the decency to wince in spite of himself. Astrid then grabbed his head with both of her hands and, staring him straight in his big, gorgeous eyes, planted a kiss on his snout. He scrunched it up in surprise, but she continued speaking.

"And _that's_ for everything else."

If Hiccup could have blushed in the moment, he would have been as red as his dad's beard, but scales thankfully proved to be good for something. He and Astrid both turned and glowered at their friends and the retching sounds they were making at their odd display of affection.

"Get a room you two! Or better yet get a stable!" Snotlout yelled this at the not-so-happy couple, and snickered with laughter for the second time in their bizarre situation.

Astrid was about to lunge for him as usual, but was surprised when Hiccup apparently did it for her. For once. He gently pushed her off of his chest, before flipping over and crouching low faster than she thought would have been possible for a dragon that size, baring his teeth at his cousin and giving him a low, warning growl. It was a terrifying sight. Astrid looked down at Hiccup's slit eyes and large teeth, shocked, but he seemed to remember himself at the sight of Snotlout cowering behind Fishlegs and gave a satisfied snort before giving her a sly smile and trotting over to where Toothless was sitting, _still_ rolling his big eyes.

Astrid just looked after him in awe, in all her years of knowing Hiccup, and in the wonderful three of their relationship, she had always been the one to stand up for their views. Hiccup was content to let her take the lead and support her from behind. He may be the next heir of Berk, and would without a doubt make an excellent chief, but he certainly did not wear the pants in their relationship. Although, Astrid blushed slightly, she had to admit that it was not all that bad having him stand up for her as well. She made a mental note to never tell him that ever. She strode over to where Hiccup was sitting next to Toothless, trying his best not to think about his situation, while Toothless gave him a bath with his tongue. He had been rolling around in the dirt after all, and was incredibly dusty. The other dragons in the arena had all gone back to their hatchling training, and the rest of the humans started to make their way towards the two Night Furies as well. Astrid and Hiccup looked at each other with a similar mildly disgusted expression as Toothless went to work, but Hiccup gave a dragonish shrug and added it to his list of things not to think about. He didn't view Toothless as a pet, not at all. But he knew that he was guilty of treating him like one sometimes, and he vowed that he would use this opportunity that Odin, or more likely Loki, had given him to try to understand his friend and his way of thinking better.

Still though, Hiccup was a _dragon._ The concept was unfathomable and yet, here they all were.

When the rest of the teenagers had reached their mismatched little group, Ruffnut immediately rushed over to Hiccup and grabbed the sides of his mouth eagerly. Hiccup was almost taken aback by the feeling of his teeth quickly receding into his gums and licked his toothless maw awkwardly.

When the deranged girl managed to pry open his jaws, she looked into his mouth, frustrated.

"What?! You had teeth a moment ago, I swear!"

Toothless and Hiccup gave each other a wry look and the former human tried to recall the muscles he'd felt working when his teeth had slid into his gums. He found them and hastily spat Ruffnut's hand, which was prodding at his gums still trying to find any sign of his teeth, out before he used them.

With a sleek _schink!_ Sound, his sharp teeth slid out of his gums so quickly, it seemed as if they had simply appeared out of nowhere. Ruffnut and Fishlegs, who had joined the former's curious inspection of Hiccup's maw both jumped backwards, while Hiccup grinned smugly and Tuffnut and Snotlout roared with laughter. Hiccup huffed though, _After all this time with Toothless, you'd think they'd have learnt something by now._

Toothless huffed in agreement, much to Hiccup's surprise, but the born dragon simply gave him a half-lidded smile and refused to say anything more on the subject.

Great. Now he was trying to play the enigma.

Astrid, after roughly pulling the twins out of their spat by their ears, looked seriously at the pair of dragons in front of her.

"Hiccup," he swivelled his ears towards her, though she was sure he had no idea he was doing it, before giving her his full attention, "you do realise we have to tell a certain someone about this."

 _Oh boy,_ he whined, though not from fear. More from embarrassment.

"Stop complaining, he has the right to know," Astrid manoeuvred her way through the dragons towards the Ring's exit speaking over her shoulder to Hiccup, "he is the chief after all."

Hiccup gave a loud, dramatic groan and covered his head with his forepaws, an action at which Toothless chortled again before nudging at him with his shoulder and gesturing to the exit.

Hiccup snorted, _Yeah, yeah. I'm going, I'm going._ He got up and slunk towards Astrid, who was waiting for the group, looking an awful lot like a cat that had just been caught scratching the furniture.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The motley crew walked through the village without much attention from the other Vikings. Dragons roaming freely around Berk had become commonplace, never mind them accompanying their human riders which is what most people simply assumed was occurring just then. Not even the sight of another Night Fury was enough to stir up a fuss although, Hiccup suspected that that would change once it became known just how they had _found_ said new dragon. As they strolled past buildings and made their way to his father's house, Hiccup found that he had misjudged just how 'easy' it was to control his new anatomical parts. Sure, he could walk okay, but there was the small matter of his new wings and tail to deal with. The latter seemed to have a mind of its own and he gave up trying to stop it whipping back and forth excitedly. His wings though, were a different story. For his part, he had tried to keep them folded neatly on his back, but he couldn't isolate the muscles used to _keep them_ that way. With every step of his two forelegs, his wings shifted their positions, occasionally springing straight up into the air like large, black sails and he was growing tired of pulling them back into submission, grumbling under his breath each time he had to do so.

His human companions snickered every time he did this, the whole muttering under his breath thing was just so _Hiccup._ It was easy to forget that he was now a creature that could bring a whole fleet of boats to its knees in just one night, he was still the same person they'd come to know and respect. Although, they doubted very much that he'd have the first clue how pull off that kind of feat anyway.

After once again pulling a disobedient leathery flap down onto his back, Hiccup snapped at it with unsheathed teeth as if to scare it into compliance, making his friends', both human and dragon, chuckles gain volume.

Toothless finally took pity on him and clicked at him a couple of times. The young man turned dragon stopped walking, astonished, as the meaning of the clicks were clear as day to him.

 _Stop walking like two-legged. Relax shoulders. Wings stay folded._

It wasn't exactly speech, at least not by human definition. This dragon speak was more universal, and much less limited than any human language. Each click, or grunt, or growl, could be used in inexhaustible combinations to mean entirely different things; it was a mechanism comparable to the human tone of voice, only with much more variety. Hiccup suddenly understood.

He didn't even have to think about the sounds, they seemed to flow from his voice box as if this was the language he had been raised speaking, instead of Norse.

 _I see. Four-legged now. This right?_

He implemented the technique he thought Toothless had been describing and received an approving nod accompanied by a proud smile from the larger dragon. Hiccup's heart swelled with his own pride and an incredible, sudden love for his friend. This was unlike anything he had felt before. Of course he loved Toothless, but this was intense. Do all dragons feel emotions this deeply?

Hiccup felt the need to express this swelling love somehow, he didn't know how he would cope with it otherwise, his heart felt like it was going to burst.

He moved closer to Toothless as they began to walk again and nuzzled his head against his flank while making soft cooing sounds.

 _Love you, elder brother._

Toothless stiffened, before letting out a great, barking laugh. And playfully licked Hiccup on the side of his face.

 _Love_ you _, younger brother!_

This was so weird, but it felt right to Hiccup and he couldn't keep an expansive, goofy grin off his face. Despite Toothless being a part of the family since they'd killed the Red Death, this was the first time he'd viewed Toothless as his actual _brother_. It was probably due to his transformation, but it felt good, amazing actually, to have a relationship so unlike any of the others he already had. The closest thing Hiccup could liken it to was that it was like being your father's best friend, but that description didn't do it justice. And, based on Toothless' reaction, he'd clearly felt that way for a long time. Hiccup couldn't help but feel guilty that it had taken him this long to come to the same realisation himself.

He turned his head to look back over his shoulder when he realised that he and Toothless were now walking alone. His friends were all staring, gaping at the pair.

Hiccup chuffed.

 _What?_

"Did you – did you just _talk_ to Toothless?" this question, surprisingly, came from Snotlout. Hiccup shrugged his shoulders.

 _Kinda._

Ruffnut was whispering something in Astrid's ear as he and Toothless trotted back to the group, Hiccup's wings finally staying put thanks to the training session he'd just undergone.

"Are we sure that Toothless is a boy dragon? They looked quite cosy there for a sec," she grinned wickedly, only to have the grin cut short by Hiccup's tail whacking her over the head.

She glared at him but Hiccup looked unapologetic, although he had not made it do that himself. Still, they didn't need to know that. As if to prove her wrong, Astrid wrapped her arms around Hiccup's neck and he nuzzled her cheek gently, laughing silently. He couldn't believe that Astrid was jealous of _Toothless_ of all people. It wasn't as if he could explain the new dynamics of their relationship though, nor would they understand even if he could, so he simply settled for calming Astrid's fears with a quick cuddle.

He grunted and looked towards the house on top of the hill, _We should get going._

Astrid nodded, her smile falling from her face slightly, understanding his gesture. Chief Stoick had done the most dramatic about-turn in his opinion of dragons in the history of the world, but no one was sure how he would react when given the news that is only son and heir had actually _become one._

It had to be done though and, with a collective deep breath, the small group of friends started up the hill to the Chief's house.

Astrid gave the door a hesitant knock. It was so unlike her usual confident, somewhat demanding one when she came calling for Hiccup that the chief was actually surprised when he opened it to find her standing in front of him.

"Astrid! What a surprise! Hiccup is nae here lass, but I thought ye were together in the Training Ring?" Stoick's booming voice was one that would be used by a regular person when shouting to her from across the room, but this was simply the way he spoke to people two feet in front of him.

Astrid gave him a sheepish grin, one that Stoick couldn't help but chuckle at. It was Hiccup's grin. His boy was definitely rubbing off on her, that much was clear.

"Actually, chief Stoick, there's something I have to tell you about Hiccup," she looked off nervously to the side where the rest of the group was standing just out of sight around the corner of the house.

At the mention of his name, Hiccup peered out from around the corner. Chief Stoick had also stepped out into the sunlight to better speak to Astrid seeing as she seemed to not want to enter the house, although he had invited her in with a gesture. He saw a large black shape come into view out of the corner of his eye and turned to face the dragon. Hiccup's pupils narrowed to slits. _Uh oh._

Stoick just laughed, "Toothless! What are ye doin' around there ye ridiculous reptile?"

Seems like Hiccup had been rubbing off on his father as well.

He gestured with a large, meaty hand for Hiccup to go stand by his side. Hiccup sighed and, resigned, trudged over to the pair. His father was wearing the apron that he had asked Astrid's mother to sew for him and had clearly been cooking. Again. Since the Red Death's death (try saying that five times fast) he had thrown all his energy into his chieftainship, his relationship with Hiccup…and cooking. Yes, Stoick the Vast was a very different man indeed.

What was even weirder though, was that Hiccup could now smell it on him. He had been experimenting with mutton and pears.

 _Interesting choice,_ Hiccup thought approvingly. He had to give his dad credit, although still dismal, his cooking skills were slowly, but steadily improving. Toothless had not been turning his nose up at the latest fish dishes that Stoick had tried his hand at preparing at any rate, which…didn't really say much. The large dragon was always hungry, but in the chief's eyes it was a major win.

Astrid pinched the bridge of her nose and glared at Hiccup, who had sat next to his father like a domesticated house pet, waiting to see how she would explain their situation. He cocked his head and looked at her innocently. She glowered at him before taking a deep breath and looked Stoick straight in the eye.

"Sir, something has happened to Hiccup."

The large man's face immediately fell and his expression darkened, "Tell me Astrid. Now."

The poor girl and Hiccup winced simultaneously at his father's tone and he got up and planted himself next to Astrid instead, looking up at his father seriously. Stoick didn't seem fussed by "Toothless'" sudden switch of allegiances however, he merely folded his arms over his chest and eyed Astrid solemnly.

Astrid looked at the corner of the house again, "Toothless!" She called.

"Come here."

Stoick's expression faltered for a moment and then completely gave way to bewilderment when another Night Fury rounded the corner of his home. He let his arms fall to his sides as Toothless sat down next to Hiccup, and looked from one identical face to the other, his brow furrowing.

After studying the pair, he realised that they weren't exactly alike. The second Toothless was slightly bigger than the first one and their eyes were two different shades of green. Although, Stoick shuddered, _both_ pairs were unnervingly familiar. He bent over to look them in their faces and realised why the second Toothless' eyes were so familiar. It was because that one _was_ Toothless.

Then, what was the first one?

The dragon in question suddenly had a smile that Stoick could only describe as sheepish spreading across its wide mouth and the chief gasped when he saw its tail reach around to rub the back of its neck.

This was a nervous habit he had seen countless times, but only on one person. Well, his arm was usually the limb that rubbed the back of his neck anxiously, rather than the – tail, but he knew why the forest green eyes were so familiar.

He bellowed, "HICCUP?!"

Well this was certainly unexpected.

It was dinner time in the Haddock household and Toothless was happily attacking a basket of raw fish that he had caught underneath the kitchen table, oblivious to the bizarre father son conversation that was occurring just over his head.

Hiccup was staring at his father, an irritated look on his face, while those merry apple cheeks were flushed with mirth and the large man cried his eyes out with hearty laughter, pounding one hand on the table top as if to accentuate his uncharacteristic jolliness. The humans had left to return to their own houses for dinner after explaining his predicament to his father, and then leaving him with no means of actual, human communication.

At first he had thought that his father had been drinking, but he sniffed the air and couldn't smell a drop of alcohol on the man.

"I'm so-sorry Hiccup, but ye just look so FUNNY wi' tha' expression on yer face! It-It's just so YOU!" Stoick was breathlessly trying to get his words out, but one look at his son's face again crippled him with wheezing laughter.

Hiccup slumped his head on the table top and waited for his father to calm down, closing one eye so that he knew he was being judged.

Stoick let out a final wheeze before straightening himself up in his chair and gazing at his draconic son with a fond smile on his face.

He placed a heavy hand on Hiccup's head, much to the boy's surprise, and he lifted his head slightly, the frills on the side of his face splaying out slightly and his ears swivelled towards his father.

Stoick began to speak, "Look son, this will surely not last very long. Based on Astrid's description, this – er – _change_ o' yer's seems to be gods-willed. So what _I_ would do would be te try an' find out what it is exactly that you are supposed to learn from this experience." He finished off with a wink.

It was all Hiccup could do to keep his jaw from dropping open. Never had he heard such words of wisdom come from his father's mouth. It was mildly disturbing.

Stoick now scratched the hollow behind his son's ear, cringing slightly at the bizarreness of the situation, but his warm, fatherly smile never faltered, "Hiccup. No matter what form ye take, you will always be my son. And I am _so_ proud of you – you need to know that."

Without warning Hiccup lunged at his dad, knocking him off his chair and onto the floor. The dragon boy shoved his head into his father's strong chest and nuzzled him with more vigour than all the personal contact the two had ever given each other in their lives combined. Stoick gave another hearty laugh and pressed his face against his son's, closing his eyes and revelling in the moment. Hiccup would have never done something like this had he been human. The boy chalked it up to the amplification of dragon emotions, but he vowed that he would try to do this kind of thing more with his dad when he was back to normal.

It felt so _real._ Screw Viking 'manliness', he loved his father.

Stoick tried to get up, but Hiccup refused to let him. He laid himself across his father's abdomen and went limp, like a dead weight. There was no hope for even the largest Viking to get up with a dragon of Hiccup's size sprawled across him like a throw. Hiccup smirked and chirped.

 _Heh heh, who knew that the day would come that I'd be heavier than Stoick the_ Vast.

Toothless barked a little chuckle back at him, understanding only some of what he'd been thinking, but enough to know what he meant. He clearly agreed, too.

"Who could have thought that the day would come when you, _little_ Hiccup, would be heavier than yer dear ol' dad."

It would seem that Stoick did as well.

Toothless, now finished with his meal, looked over to the father-son heap and decided that he would prefer some attention from this family too and promptly lay himself across Stoick's legs.

The usually formidable man roared with laughter again at what a ridiculous sight the trio must have been. He was not uncomfortable. He was, after all, a hardy man and it would take more than two dragons to cut off his air supply.

"So I'm sleepin' down here tonight, am I?" Hiccup turned his head towards his father and nodded, pleased with himself.

"Well, can I at least go sort myself out for tomorrow and get a pillow?" Stoick beamed at his son, pride shining from his eyes. Hiccup snorted good naturedly and climbed off his dad, Toothless following his lead. The two dragons chuckled with each other, while the man stomped up the stairs shaking his head in disbelief at the events that had transpired that day.

While they were waiting for Stoick to return, Hiccup had curled into a ball to think about what his father had said just a short while earlier. Toothless had taken to 'grooming' his 'baby brother' again, but Hiccup didn't mind too much this time. The regular rhythm was quite soothing for his thought process actually.

 _What I am supposed to learn from this experience...hmm. Never thought about it that way, but he does have a point._

Toothless paused occasionally to listen to the non-intelligible growls and mutterings his brother was making but when he found he couldn't make sense of them, he continued his therapeutic licking.

Then, all at once, both dragons fell silent and their heads shot up simultaneously. It would have been an eerie sight had someone been around to witness it.

Toothless growled softly.

 _Stranger here. Smell not good._

Hiccup agreed. There was a new smell in the village, one distinctly human and clearly not Berkian. It was too _clean_ to be someone of Berk. The Vikings Hiccup had grown up with were hard-working, honest people and, even without his dragon nose, they had always smelt of a combination of sweat and their respective profession. Heck, even Hiccup knew he smelt of sweat and metal from working in the smithy all day.

This smell though, was unfamiliar, and Hiccup didn't like it. He didn't realise it, but his pupils narrowed slowly into dangerous looking lines, and his eyes narrowed in suspicion. He looked positively menacing. This was the sight his father clobbered down the stairs to. The wide smile was wiped off his face when he saw his scaly son's expression.

He seemed to know what the matter was though, having lived with dragons for almost half a decade now.

He kept his voice low, "What's wrong, lad?"

Hiccup gestured to his nose and then pulled his face into a grimace. It didn't really have the same effect on a dragon face, but he got his point across.

"Strange smell?" Stoick's own eyes narrowed and he looked almost as intimidating as the two dragons he shared the room with.

Hiccup straightened himself out and huffed at the other two before slinking out the front door. The message was clear to anyone. _Stay here, I'm going to check it out._

Hiccup's elders looked at each other with the same weary expression. They both knew how stubborn Hiccup was, but there was no way they would let him out there alone with potential danger in the immediate future. After exiting the house, Toothless extended a wing to Stoick, who accepted the invite without hesitation. He climbed onto Toothless' back and whispered into his ear.

"Let's follow my boy."

They took off into the night sky.

Hiccup had, in fact, not actually flown anywhere on account of him not knowing how to. That was an instinct the gods had not blessed him with when he had gotten this body. He was satisfied with creeping around the forest in the dark though, where he had tracked the unfamiliar scent to. It couldn't have been later than the tenth hour of the night, but there was no moon out and the canopied environment he stalked around in now had been plunged into utter darkness.

Not that this was a problem for Hiccup though, as he soon found out that Night Fury eyes were unlike any other. They had amazing night vision which, if you thought about it, made quite a lot of sense. For any other animal unlucky enough to be wandering the woods at the same time though, had Hiccup been a real, wild dragon, they would have not stood a chance. Death, in the form of the dragon, would have snuck up on them silently and swiftly, and they would only have seen eerie, green eyes luminesce the last moments of their life.

Hiccup crouched lower though, when he saw light dance across the trees just to his right. The way the light flickered, Hiccup suspected that it was fire coming from at least two torches in the clearing he was slowly approaching.

Reaching it, Hiccup blew out a breath of irritation. He had been right about the torches, but the sudden distraction of the light had made him neglect his sense of smell and, instead of finding a dangerous intruder, he had found – of all people – Snotlout, carving holes into a piece of wood.

The dragon boy was about to turn back and try to pick up the scent again, when he heard a melodious, an unexpected, sound coming from his cousin. A surprised Hiccup noted that the piece of would the boy had been fiddling with had now been turned into a beautifully constructed wooden flute. And, judging by the expert way Snotlout's stubby fingers found the little holes he had carved into the instrument, he had been playing for a long time. How often, Hiccup wondered, did the teenager come out into the woods in the dead of night to play his music only where no one else would hear him.

Snotlout had begun to play, lulling a mesmerised Hiccup into a sitting position, a lonely, melancholy tune that, inexplicably, gave the dragon the urge to shower his cousin with comforting licks and nuzzles. He squashed that urge immediately. But still he remained to enjoy the melody.

The flute sounded jaw-droppingly beautiful, especially to his Night Fury ears. He could hear every woody undertone as well as the breathy overtone that Snotlout was gently coaxing from what had once been a lifeless stick of wood. The musician himself was sitting cross legged on the ground, his eyes closed and his emotions free for once, to contour his face and mould it into something other than the permanent, but apparently fake, smirk he wore during the day.

Hiccup chuffed dreamily, shocked but extremely pleased to have seen this side of his cousin, and who better to do so than him?

In his current state, it wasn't like Hiccup could tell anyone else about this 'embarrassing secret' which he was sure was the reason Snotlout only played in the dead of moonless nights deep in the forest surrounding the village.

The serene, yet heart-wrenching melody was cut off abruptly, snapping Hiccup out of his happy daze as well. He immediately honed in on his senses, his ears swivelling this way and that, his nose trying to pick out what had startled his cousin into this sudden silence.

When he found the scent, it was all he could do to hold back a vicious snarl.

The oddly clean smell from before. It was _here._


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Snotlout held his modest, handmade flute to his chest protectively as if that was what the creepy guy who was staring at him intently from the shadows of the trees was after.

Snotlout's false bravado was beginning to return and he yelled at the man defiantly, "You better not mess with me, you creepy weirdo! I'm the – "

"- Fiercest warrior on Berk?" the shadowed man cut him off, "Of course you are."

Snotlout glared at the man, now fully under the spell of 'daytime Snotlout' once more. He wasn't the sharpest axe on the wall sure, but he _wasn't stupid_. He knew a condescending tone when he heard one, he'd been hearing them his whole life after all.

"Listen here you," he began, carefully tucking his flute into his vest before cracking his knuckles, "You're clearly not from Berk, and I would suggest that you leave before I force you to!"

The man stepped forward into the light of the torches, revealing his lean, clean-shaven face and spindly frame. His face was that of an older man, but it was not yet lined with wrinkles. Snotlout put him at roughly his father's age, maybe slightly older. His distinguishing feature was his two different coloured eyes, one brown, and the other the lightest shade of blue. He wore traditional Viking clothing, but it looked all wrong on him, like he belonged in something less scruffy and more elegant. Perhaps it was his voice that gave off this air. It was clear but soft, and he spoke in accented Norse. Where the accent was from though, Hel if the boy knew, nor did he care. All he cared about was the fact that this stranger had landed on their island by not following the correct channels. He had stolen onto it like a thief in the night which, for all Snotlout knew, he could very well be.

He smiled a sinister, crooked smile at the dark-haired teen and bent over so his face was on his level for, even with Snotlout standing at his full height, this mysterious newcomer stretched a good few heads above him.

"Would you be so kind as to tell me the whereabouts of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, little boy?" Snotlout was taken aback, what did this man want with Hiccup?

"Why do you want my cousin?" he jabbed an accusing finger at the man's beak-like nose while he bristled with anger. He and Hiccup had only grown into a relationship that was some semblance of what their ideal familial bond should be recently but, family or not, he considered his cousin a friend. And no one got away with harming his friends, or even looking like they would harm them. Yeah, that was a little prejudiced, but hey, if you looked and acted like a bad guy, Snotlout would _treat_ you like one.

And this man positively reeked of evil. Or, according to Hiccup and Toothless, cleanliness. Same difference.

"Oh ho! Your _cousin,_ is he?" the man stroked a non-existent moustache, "No matter then. We simply require someone of the chief's bloodline to complete our mission."

Snotlout's face paled and he began to sweat, the flute that he had shoved into his vest starting to slip lower between the fabric and his bare skin.

"W-we?" his bravado had shattered at the prospect of there being more of these strange, bird-like people on the island.

"Naturally," the man straightened up and began pacing around the clearing.

"You didn't think I'd come alone on an attempt to kidnap the chief's son did you? Oh, pardon my mistake. I meant to say, his _nephew."_

This last word was hissed out between clenched, but grinning yellowed teeth as several more shadowy figures approached the clearing. Snotlout jumped in fright, _how had he not heard them approaching?_

He was surrounded and the clearing had suddenly grown terribly quiet. The poor boy didn't know what to do and was about to breakdown and plead for his life, when his flute fell out of the bottom of his now drenched shirt and clunked against a hollow log he was standing behind in the clearing. The sound seemed deafening in the quiet environment, but he was the only one who flinched. There was a beat of silence.

Then the forest exploded with a single, heart-stopping sound.

This time all the men in the clearing reacted, either jumping out of their skins (so they were human after all) or reaching for their weapons as a monstrous roar ripped through the quiet night air.

What felt like a gust of air whirled through the clearing, blowing out all of the torches but one, before seeming to settle at Snotlout's feet. Gusts of air weren't big and black though, nor did they have wings and sharp fangs. And they most definitely didn't have murderous, green eyes.

Snotlout shrieked at the sudden appearance of the dragon in front of him, but was thankfully drowned out by the several other shouts erupting around the edges of the clearing as the disoriented group of men laid eyes on the fearsome beast that seemed to be quite partial to what they considered a cowardly, insignificant boy.

"Toothless?" Snotlout breathed with giddy relief. The dragon turned its head at the sound of his voice and the teenager gasped, resisting the urge to raise a hand to his mouth. Those eyes were the grey-green he had once shared with his cousin when he was younger, and he would recognise them anywhere.

" _Hiccup?!"_ he hissed at the Night Fury, but the dragon had already lost interest in him and was eyeing the men surrounding the odd couple, daring them to make a move. Snotlout's mind clouded over. When he had looked into Hiccup's eyes, he hadn't seen his goofy cousin. He had gazed into the pine pools of a ruthless predator, and somehow he felt lucky to be alive. Hiccup's pupils had narrowed into slits so small, they were almost non-existent, and he hadn't shown signs of understanding what Snotlout had said at all, other than merely reacting to the sounds around him.

 _Boy oh boy oh boy, this is bad. This is very bad._ Snotlout wrapped his arms around himself for comfort.

Although, the fact that Hiccup was protecting him instead of attacking him counted for something, surely. That must mean that he was still there! Of course it did.

Snotlout wasn't sure who he was trying to convince as he took in his cousin's coiled appearance. Hiccup wasn't just defending him, the dragon was ready to attack.

Hiccup snarled and snapped at the two-leggeds that surrounded him and the one who smelled like family. The dragon's mind was clouded with a rage he had never before experienced, which was why, he was sure, he was seeing his flock member like a two-legged rather than a dragon which was what he surely must be. His mind was in an unfamiliar place. Yes, that was obviously it.

He felt like he had been in a situation similar to this one before, the sight of angry, yelling two-leggeds brandishing their fake claws at him while he protected one of his own. Although, the scenery now seemed wrong in comparison. The Night Fury remembered there being a cage above his head in the original memory and shuddered involuntarily at the thought of something cutting him off from the sky.

He brought himself back to the present with a snort and continued facing each of the circling men, trying to judge which one would attack fir – _Ah, there we go._

Seeing the tension in the two-leggeds hind legs, Hiccup prepared himself to counter the lunge. He had to keep the fight away from his nest mate, that much he somehow instinctively knew. Something told him he was not as capable a fighter as he himself was.

The human man leapt towards the beast, spear held high and ready to plunge into its side, but the dragon's head snapped towards him at the last moment and the man's eyes widened. He could have sworn the black demon gave him an evil grin, but he shut his eyes in preparation for his fate. Death never came though, instead he felt a searing pain around his torso. He opened his eyes to find that the beast had bitten into his midriff. Deeply, although he hadn't seemed to have punctured anything extremely useful. Fractured a few ribs maybe, but the foreign warrior was certainly not in any danger of dying anytime soon.

He craned his neck upwards to try and follow the movements of the flying devil, but could only catch glimpses and brief flashes of the action in the dying light of the single torch that had been left aflame. Before long, he saw that not one of his comrades had been left standing. Icy fingers grasped at his heart as he wondered whether he was the only one left alive, by fluke on the demon's part. On the more likely assumption that that was the case, the soldier played dead and waited for the boy and his beast to leave the area. He didn't stay awake for very long though, the pain in his torso soon over took his blackening vision, and he fainted.

"Uh. H-Hiccup?" Snotlout squeaked at his cousin, who was pacing back and forth in the middle of the clearing like a caged big cat and shaking his head occasionally, as if to clear it of confusing thoughts. He was clearly still not in his right mind. The human boy immediately regretted his timid squeak however, because the dragon's eyes snapped to him as soon as he spoke and he began approaching him slowly. Hiccup's eyes were still narrowed into tiny slits and his mouth had curled into a snarl that had remained in place since he had started fighting the foreigners.

Snotlout was worried that they had been killed, more for Hiccup's sanity's sake than any actual concern for the men. Although, the older man who had spoken to Snotlout before, and who was clearly their leader, was nowhere to be seen. He had apparently escaped amidst all the chaos that had been unleashed in the small wooded clearing. Now, it was Snotlout who wished he could do the same.

Being fixed by those decidedly un-Hiccup eyes was more than a little terrifying, especially as he approached him purposefully, with a predatory swagger in his step. He knew where the two of them lay on the food chain, clearly.

Although, to his relief, Hiccup simply stopped in front of him and looked down at him, staring into his eyes and, Snotlout felt, his very soul.

The boy gulped, and reached out his hand, the appendage at which Hiccup looked at with apparent disdain. Knowing what he needed to do to regain his cousin's trust, he shut his eyes tightly and looked away from the imposing form that appeared almost demonic in the flickering light of the fire.

Hiccup was confused. There was no doubt about it in his mind now, his nest mate was a two-legged. Although how that could be possible escaped his knowledge. He growled. His head hurt. This was all so unnatural and, to put the icing on the cake, when he had walked over to the two-legged, the young male had reached out his hand as if to pet him.

The audacity.

Hiccup didn't move his head, waiting to see how the boy reacted to his defiance. Needless to say, his reaction was not one that Hiccup expected. He had seen what he had done to those of his kind. The dragon had simply incapacitated the men as the thought of outright killing them just did not appeal to him in the slightest. He did not know why though, he was sure they had killed countless of his own. That was correct, was it not?

And yet, Hiccup smelled the conflicting emotions rolling off of the boy in waves. He was unsure of whether the men were indeed alive but, in spite of these doubts, he still reached out his hand to Hiccup's head.

It was what the boy did next however that triggered another memory of an experience that his previous fury had locked deep into the dragon's mind. Although, how odd, his own experience had been from the _boy's_ perspective, and not his own.

As Snotlout looked away from Hiccup, hand outstretched, Hiccup saw another male two-legged stretching his hand out to him. This one had auburn hair and was thin and gangly looking. It looked up at him, and Hiccup gave an inward gasp.

This male human shared his eyes.

 _No, no that's not right. Not shared, it…_

Snotlout's hand had almost reached his snout and Hiccup, suddenly overwhelmed with the need to go the rest of the distance, closed his eyes and pressed his forehead into the calloused palm from which spread the agile fingers of a musician.

 _Wait…a musician? That's right! That male two-legged did not share my eyes…his eyes are mine!_ Hiccup's eyelids snapped open and his once narrowed pupils were now wide and round, looking every bit like a scared child. Snotlout was still looking away from him, but the dragon nudged his hand and breathed a gentle puff of air through his nostrils that ruffled the dark hair not covered by his helmet.

Snotlout opened one eye hesitantly but, when he saw that Hiccup's eyes were filled with a good portion of black pupil, his other eye opened and he gently placed his other hand on Hiccup's scaly cheek.

"H-Hiccup?" he enquired softly.

If dragons could cry, those massive doe eyes would have certainly been welling up as the large head nodded once.

 _Yes. It's me._

"Ha!" Snotlout let out a disbelieving shout of victory as his face lit up with a radiant smile, "You're back! You did it!"

Hiccup shook his head, Snotlout's hands still attached to his face, and the boy's mouth formed a confused "o". The dragon gently nudged his cousin's chest with his snout, uttering a low rumbling sound of reassurance.

 _It was you._ You _did it. You brought me back._

Snotlout seemed to understand, "Me?" he looked at his hands on the dragon's snout, and then up at Hiccup's sad eyes. He didn't need a mind reader to tell that Hiccup's heart was broken by the latest turn of events and, in that moment, Snotlout forgot everything he had learnt about being a "proper Viking". He tugged Hiccup's head closer into his chest and stroked his neck comfortingly. While the dragon's form racked with dry sobs for his momentarily lost humanity, Snotlout felt his own eyes well up and spill over.

"Hiccup," he managed to choke out eventually, "You know this wasn't your fault right?"

The dragon didn't make any response.

"From what I saw, the only reason you went all…y'know… was because you saw I was in danger. Your friend, your _family,_ " Hiccup lifted his head morosely to look his cousin in the eye when he said that. Snotlout continued, undeterred, "You didn't try to attack me _once._ So, I know you can control this, cousin." He ceased his stroking and instead, gave Hiccup a friendly bop on the nose with a closed fist. Hiccup only looked at him doubtfully.

"Hey!" Snotlout grabbed the dragon's face with both of his hands, "YOU'VE GOT THIS, I said. Okay?"

This time Hiccup, still extremely shaken but miraculously feeling better thanks to Snotlout's words, nodded his head and attempted a toothless smile.

Snotlout shook his head at this and rolled his eyes good-naturedly.

"Well cuz, I guess it's about time we left," he bent down to pick up his now crushed flute and looked at it dejectedly, before looking at all the bodies strewn about the clearing floor.

He cleared his throat nervously again, "Uh, Hiccup? Are they -?"

The poor dragon had a look on his face that could only mean _oh gods, no!_ and he shook his head frantically to convey his answer.

Snotlout only gave a weak, relieved chuckle before leaning heavily on Hiccup's flank. The adrenaline had left him and his knees buckled from the night's stressful events. The boy was not used to experiencing such an influx of emotions at any one time and he was mentally, emotionally and physically exhausted.

Snotlout wheezed happily, "Well then, what are you worried about? I told you – you've. Got this. I believe…in…" Hiccup mentally filled in the rest of the thought as Snotlout's exhausted mind and body gave in to the peacefulness of sleep.

He was right, Hiccup decided. Instead of getting depressed because of something that had been out of his control, he should just make sure to never put himself in a position where that could happen again.

 _Because then_ , he shuddered to think about the possibility, _they might not be able to bring me back._

He lifted Snotlout effortlessly into his gummy mouth, trying his best not to let his tongue touch the sleeping figure. He wasn't quite sure he wanted to subject himself to the kind of punishment that tasting Snotlout would have been.

He chuckled at his thought, but quickly sobered up as another entered his mind.

 _I guess I need to watch my temper from now on,_ Hiccup gave himself a solemn nod and decided that he would not think about what had happened that night from then on. He had learnt his lesson from the event, and it did not require any further thought on the subject. Satisfied, the boy turned dragon left the clearing and headed back towards the village. Snotlout would sleep in his bed that night.

Toothless and Stoick watched the dragon and boy leave, similar, solemn expressions on their faces. They had arrived in the aftermath of the fight and, judging by the moment that the cousins had had with each other, it was clear to the both of them what had happened. They glanced at each other and didn't need communication to make the silent decision that what they witnessed that night from their treetop perch would not leave the little, insignificant forest clearing to be shared with humans and dragons alike. But, they were both sure that it would be in both of their minds for a while, or at least until their favourite human was turned back into one.

Stoick broke the silence that had once again descended onto the forest, "Well, Toothless. Looks like we've got some cleanin' up to do." He gestured towards the fallen soldiers, heart-broken that his son had had to have been the one to do that. The dragon at his side whimpered, clearly sharing the sentiment.

You can imagine their surprise when they found that their boy, even with his humanity briefly receded, had left every single soldier he had attacked that night alive.


End file.
